The Forgotten Plague: How the Battle Against Tuberculosis Was Won - And Lost

by Frank Ryan MD

Overview

Ryan, a physician, offers a history of the cure for tuberculosis, including accounts of the people and scientists involved. The final chapter spells out a renewed threat in the congruence of AIDS and tuberculosis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316763813
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	09/14/1994
Pages:	488
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

Editorial Reviews

Ryan traces the history of tuberculosis, its apparent cures and contemporary reemergence. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Tuberculosis, Ryan reminds us, is not just a disease of gracefully suffering artists in period costumes. Shockingly, 1.7 billion people worldwide are infected, including 10 million Americans. Aggravated by AIDS and homelessness, new and often drug-resistant cases threaten to unleash what has been called ``the greatest public health disaster since the bubonic plague.'' Ryan, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Physicians and a Member of the New York Academy of Sciences, narrates the history of the search for a cure of this terrifying disease. He describes both the tedious drudgery and the seemingly mystical flashes of insight of an international group of brilliant scientists, including four Nobel Prize winners. They combated a ``sinister chameleon'' of a disease for which cure after cure was developed, only to be discarded after TB bacteria mutated into new variations that left promising therapies apparently useless. A compelling picture of the process of scientific research as well as a troubling look at an emerging public health crisis, Ryan's book is recommended for all libraries.-- Kathy Arsenault, Univ. of South Florida, St. Petersburg

Library Journal

Ryan, a physician, tells of the people and discoveries at the center of the cure for tuberculosis. The final chapter spells out a renewed threat in the congruence of AIDS and tuberculosis. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews